S7, E7: Building an Estate Style Home

SEASON SEVEN, EPISODE SEVEN | TRANSCRIPT

KIM
It might feel like something out of a Mediterranean daydream. Clay tile roofing warming in the sun, arched entryways, and windows framed in stone. yeah, and a winding staircase made for a grand entrance. But this isn't Spain or Italy. It's right here in the Midwest, crafted with the elegance, grandeur, and materials you rarely see in new construction. A few miles away, another striking home is tucked into a quiet neighborhood.

This one with the stately air of a French estate, bold, refined, and built not just to impress, but to stand for generations. Today's episode is a celebration of scale, artistry, and legacy behind two estate style homes that are head turning examples of what can be achieved by combining classic style and modern craftsmanship.

VOICEOVER

Welcome back to the Art of Custom and our special season 20 years where we're celebrating 20 homes over two decades of building exceptional homes in Park City and St. Louis.

Today we're taking a turn toward grandeur. Estate style homes that make a powerful architectural statement. showcasing two still feeling like warm, inviting places to come home.

We'll explore the design journey behind a Spanish revival inspired residence, complete with clay roof tiles, sweeping staircases and romantic stucco finishes. Alongside a French Georgian estate clad in cast stone, radiating symmetry, sophistication and timeless appeal.

Enjoy.

KIM
Estate style homes are a powerful expression of both taste and tradition. Whether you're inspired by the romantic lines of Spanish revival or the stately symmetry of French Georgian architecture, the homes we're going to explore today show that, as they say, a classic never goes out of style. Joining us on this episode to talk a little bit more about another couple of our very favorite projects in 20 years for Hibbs Homes is Chris Pedigo.

You've heard him, you love him, you can't live without him. He is very familiar to the art of custom. He's our general manager in the St. Louis market, very active in all of our builds. And Chris, we're going to talk first about the Alfalahi residence, which was built in Town and Country back in 2015. Eddie was just, she is the funniest person.

One of the more enjoyable projects simply because she's got a great sense of humor and was always joking with us as we went along. not only do I remember that, but this was such a unique home from a design and style standpoint. Just shy of 7,000 square feet, three levels, five bedrooms, seven baths. But it was the Spanish revival type design, that Mediterranean flair that Eddie wanted from the very beginning that she was dead set on. Lauren Strutman, beautiful job designing the home. And we kind of pulled it off, didn't we? We did.

And I mean, the house is consistent throughout. You know, when you start talking about house plans and that classic design and you know, some people have a mix of, you know, a variety of different styles that mix into one house, but that house in particular stuck to that style throughout interior, exterior, wherever you go in that house, it's got that vibe, it's got that feel. And that's something very unique about that house.

And Melody, like we were talking about in episode six, we had a couple of different stories about homeowners who knew exactly what they wanted to design and build. The same thing is held true. with both of the projects we're discussing in this podcast, Eddie knew exactly what she wanted to build and she did not vary from that at all. so, you know, again, it's, if you have a style, if you have a design that you want to build, go for it, which is what she did.

MELODY
So what drove that inspiration? I mean, I know with Valenti, she specifically said the Italian wine countryside because that was her vision. So do you do you guys know what the vision behind this Mediterranean style home was?

KIM
I don't know that I can necessarily say exactly what drove Eddie in this direction. I just know from the moment I met her, she had pictures of what she wanted to design and build. And that was it from the beginning. Some of the interior photos, know that to Chris's point, this is a house inside and out that followed that same design all the way through from this big, really ornate fireplace surround in the great room. Fluted columns, half spiral staircase with an iron handrail, the dining room, the colors on the walls and the ceilings, the extra trim work. I mean, we have photos. It's a beautiful home. She just nailed it all the way.

MELODY
So we're painting a visual picture for our listeners right now. So let's talk about the exterior elements that really, I mean, you can look at this home and see that it nailed that style. Yes, yes. The warm clay tile roof

CHRIS
Clay tile really is the cherry on top on that house having you know, that you know, has not done that often here in the St. Louis market and to complete the look and the style. I mean, that's a necessary element of that to really keep that home authentic. And I know that she did have to go back and forth a little bit on that because clay tile roofing is not inexpensive. And of course, nobody has an unlimited budget. And so she's trying to balance the look of the home, the size of the home and the budget, which I think she did very beautifully but

KIM
To Chris's point, that house would have a totally different look, totally different feel if we had not finished it with the clay tile roof. Lighter color stucco, stones with some of the clay colors, the brown colors. mean, it really, if you think of the Mediterranean, you think of the colors there. This home with the clay tile, it happened to be, we have a TV monitor in our office.

The house just happened to pop up on the monitor as we're talking about a huge rear deck. And that was very important to Eddie as well, is to be able to have some outdoor space. And it's on a one acre lot in town and country, so she has room to breathe there, right? And the home is just beautifully designed, sits on the lot perfectly, and is just one of our favorite projects.

MELODY
You know and sometimes they say business on the front party in the back, but really

KIM
Nice, that was good.

MELODY
On the back balconies, there was specific wrought iron touches that I thought were so cool. Tell me about selecting the bowed out.

KIM
It's a Juliet balcony.

MELODY
Yeah, Juliet balcony. And that goes to the look, right? But you also have to have the right color. You know, it can't just be a black or it can't just be a brown. It has to be more of a bronze, which fit in perfectly with the style of her home. But Chris is right. It's Juliet balcony, which means it's really not functional. It's there more for the exterior ornate decoration. And then she pulled those same handrails down on the larger patio as well.

CHRIS
Yeah, I used them around the patio and then even on the back like you were talking about the deck and that's kind of leads back to my point where the entire project feeds into the style. I mean the back deck, the columns are wrapped in stone and the stone veneer around the deck instead of putting a composite deck on the back of a house with that style, you know, the entire project follows the inspiration. And what really made it too is if you think about the or if you look at the front entry, a grand covered front entry with a very

large steel door. remember it took 10 people. took our vendor. It took them a lot. This is a heavy, heavy, heavy door. And the delivery I remember was rather unique because we had to be well prepared for it. The whole thing played out perfectly. we go back.

Last episode, we talked about the importance of architects for a neighborhood, making sure they've worked in a neighborhood, making sure they understand the architectural approval process. This project specifically comes down to you had to find the right architect to pull off this design style. Eddie found Lauren and she did a beautiful job.

So inside, talked about, you know, the fireplace, but there's one particular architectural element that I think most people fall in love with. And it's that grand staircase in the center. Yeah.

Yeah, we talked about that a little bit already, but we need to talk about it again because both going up and down that half circle staircase, stained staircase with custom wrought iron handrails, you have to do that in this particular house. I think that the great room and the dining room are the three elements in this particular house that really hold true to the design style and really pull everything together beautifully.

What were some of the unique features that maybe we haven't touched on?

I know from my perspective, I just think of the quality of some of the painting that was done, the columns, the ceiling treatments in the dining room, that fireplace with that tall, tall mirror. There were some special trim and then some painting applied to it. So it was all, it kind of looked like the walls were just wrapped up into the ceiling. It was kind of seamless. it was really the detail and the trim work. And here's the cool thing about it is,

MELODY
What were the ceiling treatments in the dining room?

KIM
We had standard construction columns that were white that once they were painted, they look like marble. And so they're not. These are techniques that you can pull off in building a brand new home if you have the right trade partners. You think these are legit marble columns, but it's not. It's a painting technique that was put on just standard interior columns.

So she had this vision, but did she have a designer that was helping guide all of those choices?

So we had an interior in-house designer at the time that she was working with. And then she also was working. She had some friends who were helping her. But Eddie, I give her a lot of credit. She knew what she wanted, and she knew what the look she was going for. And so she did not have one person who drove the design. It was a function of Eddie driving it, and then also just relying on the people that we were working with and our designer on staff at the time.

So there is one feature that was way ahead of its time and recently came up as a matter of fact in a podcast I had Anne Fritz, our current house designer, mention it to me. It's a key to a good marriage. It's his and hers bathrooms off of the primary bedroom suite. what was the like? I mean, that's not something that was done at the time, right?

Well, apparently she just needed space from her husband. I'm going to leave it at that. No, she was very intentional that this is the way that they wanted to be able to live in the space. But to your point, yeah, mean, that and even things like Dirty Kitchens or Colors, which are really popular right now. She was just ahead of her time. Because you're right, we're doing so many more his and her closet, his and her shower areas, and his and, we're even doing, like in Utah, we've done his and her bedrooms.

I would like a his and hers bedroom.

MELODY
So what were some of the biggest challenges with this project in particular?

The weather, I remember the house was built at a time where it was just a lot of rain and a lot of snow. The weather, I don't know that we really ran into any problems along the way. It just seemed like a normal build. mean, again, it has been a while ago, and sometimes you just forget about things. But I don't remember anything in particular standing out. We made some decisions with grade and things like that along the way, which affected the amount of siding and stone and the cost of it.

We tried to save Eddie some money where we could so the grade around going around the rear elevation is held up a little bit higher to avoid some of the cost of the exterior stone. We had an unusual amount of cracking in the lower level concrete, but there's nothing you can do about that, right? We try to control the cracking where we can. That's why we either cut it or put in what they call zip strips and things like that. But we were able to overcome that and used a special underlayment under the tile that helped with that.

I guess it's a challenge when you build a home that unique. There's a lot of detail and there's a lot of attention to detail that even a nice custom home, goes above and beyond that. When you have things like those curved staircases and those custom wall finishes and the custom murals painted on there's, know there's a couple other murals besides just the columns that took some custom painting. And when you have that level of detail and that many high end finishes in one project, I guess you call it a challenge. It's not an issue, but it's just, it takes a little.

KIM
It does and I want to caution people too that the more customized you are with your home, just realize it is going to take longer. It just will. It's not a production home. It's not a track home. You can't get in. You can't get out. It's inevitably going to take you longer to build this house. So just plan on an extra few months as you go into the process. But fun project. Great project.

The next project we're going to talk about is another that had a lot of sourcing new materials, unique materials, this home actually won the Custom Home of the Year award for 2021. So that was being built during the pandemic.

You asked us about challenges on the last project. That was the challenge on this project because there were many times where while the industry was deemed, there was a term, essentially, right? They still had rules and regulations that you could have one trade in at a time and things like that. the cleaning required and the personal protective equipment and things like that. It slowed us down immensely to get these homes built.

CHRIS
And that was probably one of the biggest challenges on that house. It's again in town and country, community. That house just happens to pop up on at the same time on one of our televisions. That house actually did really hit truly like right in the middle of the heart of the beginning of the pandemic. So it was where there was the most precautions being taken. And even if we had one trade in, they would only send one individual from their company in it. So yeah, it was a challenge in the middle of that project to keep things moving.

MELODY
We're talking about the French Georgian estate, the Devonshire Project. That's our second home up for this episode.

KIM
When you just said French Georgian estate, that already conjures up an image.

MELODY
Right. know. And I am obsessed with this house. actually, anytime I'm in a sales meeting and somebody asks, what should we drive by? And I'm like, you need to drive by this house. But it's 5,339 square feet. This was a take-two house for this family, too.

KIM
They were really, I mean, there was a Take two, but you're right. They lived right next door and they wanted to build this house. There was a lot available and They were very experienced when it comes to construction because they do some renovation rehabs themselves So Jim Bujelski was the architect on this particular project and we've worked with Jim on many He's the kind of architect that has a small staff and when he takes on a project he really dives in and gives it his all and was able to really come up with a beautiful design that fit perfectly. mean, just the exterior of the home, the brick and the cast stone, the tall pitch ceilings, the grand entryway, the balcony over the entryway. It was just another home that really was designed beautifully and fit well into that neighborhood of larger homes.

MELODY
Now there's a specific detail in the roof line, the front roof line. It's a small arch. There's eyebrow dormer. That's an I could not for the life of me come up with the term in that copper dormer.

KIM
Architecture means everything. Find the right architect for your project because those little details like that eyebrow dormer if you will, we had the special the copper finials on top of the roof as well. Those are the details that make the difference and if you don't have an architect who understands that in your design you're missing out on it. So in my mind even if an architect is going to charge you a few dollars more

In the end, is so worth it to have that right part.

MELODY
That's where that cast stone came into play too. Do we work with cast stone a lot?

CHRIS
No, we don't. mean, it's really don't even in this market. I mean, there are it's hit or miss. It's used a lot as accents that particular house. I mean, there was a lot we had the besides just the cast stone accents like the columns in the, you know, the front porch balustrade was all cast stone and the archway going into the front porch was an all cast stone surround. So there was a lot on that house, which really gave it that Georgian feel and you know, that classic. Yeah.

And while we need to give a shout out to cornerstone who was our Mason on that particular project. They did a beautiful job. did fantastic. The trades matter as well. We talk about the importance of architects. We talk about the importance of design. We need to talk about the importance of the trades and making sure that the builder you're working with has a good stable of trades that can pull off the style that you're wanting.

MELODY
And that helps with that cost and complexity when you're working with new materials or materials that you're not, you know, seeing on every day on every street corner. So what kind of planning process does a home of this scale require though? A lot.

CHRIS
I mean, you you think about it, the planning up front is so important. You you take your time with the design, but the interior finishes on that house are again stunning. There were boxed beam ceilings. There was multiple layers of trim. There is, you vibrant, you have some black and white contrast in there that is really cool.

You know, you go down into the lower level. One of my favorite things about that house in the lower level is they used a garage door for their exterior door that goes out onto this beautiful patio that overlooks a hot tub. really, and I know that we worked with one of our designers and worked on that house. There is so much work that goes into it and the planning process is crucial when it comes to one of these larger projects.

MELODY
So when I asked Chris if he wanted to be a part of this podcast, he immediately brought up that it was such a neat contrast with the formality outside and what was going on inside. Really business in the front, party in the back because of the garage door, right?

CHRIS
It was a really unique build in that it had that classic style from the front. And then you get into the interior and it was a really cool mix of classic was going to say you have to use the word classic, but you're absolutely right. Because you get into the inside and there's contemporary finishes. then when you start describing it, you think, boy, it sounds like it was really scattered. Like you go to the back porch and the back porch was rustic with a wood ceiling and wood timber beams, but then a really modern, smooth texture fireplace.

MELODY
And the cool thing about it was between the homeowner and Anne and the architect and the design, it all worked. I mean, it just turned into a perfect blend. You know, it was a really cool mix. Yeah, because even if you go into the primary bathroom, there's this really cool soaking tub, right? Yeah. And round. you just don't see. We've never installed that tub before. And yet here it is, something that's very modern, very contemporary.

And it's inside this, you know, this, this. you know, French Georgian style home, you would not expect it. But Chris is right. It blended the old with the new so beautifully on the inside. And that was 100 % again, the owner knew what she wanted. She was on top of the selections. She had a direction she was going to go and she pulled it off. Her and Ann did a really nice job of finding things that were unique. And you know, we have great vendors here in St. Louis.

Sometimes we have to reach out to vendors outside the area to find the exact fit. like they were to a company called Rustica for a lot of the interior pocket doors and some of the like there was a barn door that went into the wet room and it had to be, you know, metal. So they did a great job of sourcing some of those products that you just don't see every

In the front foyer, there were book-ended pieces of stone. Okay, tell me a little bit about this. I've seen it, but I don't understand what it is and how they did it.

Yeah, it was a stone inlay inside the wood. So you come inside and there's a rectangular shaped stone inlay. And like you said, bookmatch. So however they cut the stone, was so that the striations in the stone all met in the middle. So it was basically cutting quarters. So it looks like, you know, so that it's symmetrical. So that was a fantastic accent. Chris is absolutely right. I forgot about that Four Seasons room on the back. Right.

MELODY
How do you go and combine? the French Georgian style, all of a sudden you have this modern flair, then you have a rustic flair, and then you go downstairs and have this really fun garage door. It was insane how they all pulled together, but it was done just beautifully.

KIM
a lot of areas that were specifically made for conversations and entertaining. And the really cool thing about that Four Seasons room is they had these sliders that opened up so that they could open that up as they entertained people, could mill about. And that was one of the first homes that, well, I guess, Al Falahi, but that had the scullery or butlers, like the wet butler's pantry in the back of it.

And you know, like you said, it all takes planning, all takes preparation, and it takes the ability to move on the fly as you build too. Like for instance on that house, you know, we planned out this gorgeous Georgian front porch with the cast stone balustrade and all of this stuff. And then the flooring for the terrace is what do we do with that? So we decided on a tile terrace outside.

Well, that all worked and we had a game plan for that, but then we started thinking about, okay, this is St. Louis, we're going to have snow and ice in the winter. How do you get snow and ice off of tile floor without damaging the tile? So then we adapted and we put a heated floor system in that terrace to melt snow so that it was a broom finish to keep it clean. So some of it is planning and as you do customs and you have to be able to adapt and problem solve as you go and make sure that the end product, everything works together.

It's a very formal house on the outside, it's made for living on the inside. Like you can see where they're using those spaces to join together as a family and spend time. There's wine room, or the music room. The music room.

KIM
I that music room. There are so many parts of that house that I just love. The kitchen is gorgeous and the whole home was just so special and we were very, very pleased to have a chance to work with the owner.

MELODY
So Chris, as somebody who's worked on these huge houses and worked directly with the homeowner, what would you say your biggest piece of advice would be when you're approaching a project like this?

CHRIS
Take your time to plan it out. Put a lot of thought into that. And that's what we do too, is your architect's gonna help you plan that out. They're gonna get your feedback and take your time with that, you know, cross all your T's that you can, but be flexible in the build because as you build this, you're gonna think of things you didn't think of when you were designing it. That's gonna make the end product exactly what you want as opposed to maybe having something that you wish you would have thought about in the beginning.

KIM
And I'm just going to echo what Chris said.  Flexibility is the key because of those requested changes and also understand that you have to be flexible not only with the build but with your budget because the builder can't read your mind going in. So if all of a sudden something changes or you want to add something during the build, just understand that is going to have to be an extra. So maybe when you go to finance the project, make sure you have a little bit more of a contingency in your budget for some of these extras that might come up. A large build like that, you really should have a contingency.

I know we do a really good job with our budgeting up front. We want to make sure that we've included everything in the build. So when we go to the client and present them with our seven or eight page budget, everything is included. But inevitably, larger projects, things will come up. Owner wants to add this, wants to change that. Just have a contingency in there to cover that so you're not overly worried during the build about, OK, how am I going to pay for some of these extras? Have a contingency.

MELODY
And it's the longer that you're spending building and thinking about this home, of course you're going to come up with more ideas and think more about how you'll use it. And I have to think that maybe we should advise people to not be afraid of materials as well, just because it's not something that's commonly used. If your architecture review board is going to let you do it or your homeowners association, and that's really what you want, don't be afraid to use something that you don't see every day.

KIM
No, that's a great point. That's why we love working with a variety of architects, because the creativity is different with each of them. Just find an architect who understands what your style is. think that's important, to understand an architect who's worked in the community in which you're working. Chris, I know Melody, and I know that she's going to link some photos to these homes we've been talking about.

MELODY
Absolutely. They're going to be in the show notes.

You have to see some of these homes, they're just beautiful.

MELODY
And if you guys don't follow us on social, we actually have a few houses that are in design that are going to kind of echo some of the really cool elements of these homes too. So phone number 844-Hibbs20 if you have any questions and you can email us at podcast at hibbshomes.com. And we do have a Reddit community where we're posting information and the show notes. So if you're so inclined, you can join that and start some conversations.

Speaker 1 (25:54.806)
And I know the past two episodes, we've been talking about some of our favorite St. Louis projects, but on our next episode, we're going to turn things back into the Park City area, have a wonderful client from Chicago, have another wonderful client from the Minneapolis area. We're building them their dream vacation homes out in the Park City area. One in Sky Ridge and one in Tuhaye.

So we're going to focus a little bit more on resort living in Park City and what it's like to build out there and some of the projects we're working on. So that'll be a fun episode.

And I think what's going to be fun about it is both of those projects are actually in progress right now. And so we can really, like we won't have forgotten some of those challenges.

I've got some for you. We hope you'll join us for our next episode of the Art of Custom. Thanks, everyone.

OUTRO: For more information visit www.artofcustompodcast.com or find us on Facebook and LinkedIn as The Art of Custom. Be sure to subscribe to get the latest episodes and please rate and review. The Art of Custom is produced by HugMonster sound with original music by Adam Frick-Verdeen. Thanks for listening.